Posted:15th Feb 2006If It wasnt for hop I wouldnt have met my husband.

If it wasnt for hop I wouldnt have my angel of a son.

If it wasnt for hop Flynty wouldnt be napping on my couch right now.

If it wasnt for hop I would have no idea what a wibble is.

If it wasnt for hop I wouldnt have so many friends in all courners of the world.

If it wasnt for hop I wouldnt have amazing plans for our family to visit the Yookay.

If it wasnt for hop I wouldnt have such a skewed view of icecream.

Im so thankful for hop....There seems to be so much discord about Hop at the moment, and a little bit of Old skool vs New skool... but when its stripped right down and the politics are removed from it, Hop has changed my life in so many positive ways, and Im damn appreciative of it...

This is a thread so that people can tell us about their "if it wasnt for hop" stuff. Please dont bring any politics or rants in here, lets just appreciate the fact that we are lucky to have hop and all the selfless beautiful people who give it to us and work on it on a daily basis.

TAJ "boat mummy." VALURA "yes sweetie you went on a boat, was daddy there with you?" TAJ "no, but monkey on boat" VALURA "well then sweetie, Daddy WAS there with you"

Posted:15th Feb 2006if it wasnt for HoP i wouldnt have to adelaide last yearif it wasnt for HoP i wouldnt have gone to brisbane this yearif it wasnt for HoP i wouldnt have soo many of my really good friendsif it wasnt for HoP Flynt wouldnt have taught me to snuggleif it wasnt for HoP i wouldnt be able to stick a screwdriver 7cm into my nose (good or bad thing, you decide)

if it wasnt for HoP id be a completely different person to who i am today.

cheers, pete

"you know there are no trophys for doing silly things in real life yeah pete?" said ant "you wont get a 'listened to ride of the valkyries all the way to vietnam' trophy"

*proud owner of the very cute fire_spinning_angel, birgit and neon shaolin*

Posted:15th Feb 2006If it wasn't for HoP I wouldn't be the University's only resident Fire Breather.

If it wasn't for HoP than I wouldn't be learning the Matrix, and other sh!t hot moves!

If it wasn't for HoP I wouldn't have started staff spinning, and therefore would not have joined the University juggling society, and therefore (finally!) would not have met literally the best friend I have ever known!

If it wasn't for HoP I'd never have had Kyrian round so much, and that would have been a bad thing

If it wasn't for HoP I wouldn't know what "Goldschlager" was

I've actually just realised the way in which HoP has changed my life for the better... it's let me make contact with so many great people... Thanks for posting Valura!

Thank you Mods for making this a place I love to hang around in!

After much consideration, I find that the view is worth the asphyxiation.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------I may disagree with what you have to say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.

I wouldn't have met some of the people I now class as dearest life long friends.

I wouldn't have the strong desire to over come my fear of flying so I can go and meet many more people I wish to have as life long friends.

I wouldn't have met Gayle who forced me to find out that swinging balls of fire around my head could give me such a buzz.

I wouldn't have met so many talented people that I admire hugely.

My faith in human nature would still be at a bit of a low ebb. Never have I met so many people that offer to help out someone (sometimes without having met that person) just because they know they are in trouble and need. It was an astounding feeling.

I would never have thought that meeting people off the net could be, not only a safe thing to do, but a positive thing too.

I wouldn't have known that there are so many s, Pixies, and Faeries all over the world spreading their love and kindness.

Spinning poi has changed my life for the better, HoP enhances that change.

Thank you to Malcolm and all the team for all the work you put in to keep this place going.

Thank you Valura for starting this thread. As always your beautiful, bright, loving light is beaming out and making the world a better place to live in! You truely are a made of

Posted:16th Feb 2006If it wasn't for HoP:I doubt I would still be attempting Poi, I would have given up by nowI would never have met some of the best people aliveI probably wouldnt be as open to such a wide variety of ideas

Posted:16th Feb 2006if it wasn't for HOP there probably wouldn't be this great community of spinners round the world.

If it wasn't for HOP when you go to festivals or conventions and you get chatting to someone and they say "i'm so and so from HOP" and you can go straight from stangers to knowing each other quite well

Posted:16th Feb 2006If it wasnt for HoP, I'd be living in tasmania, doing a job that made me miserable, instead of finally finding a home in melbourne, with flatmates whom I adore, starting my own business.

If it wasnt for HoP, my life would not have been blessed by many amazing, inspiring and loving individuals that continue to grace my life.

If it wasnt for HoP, I would not have grown as much as I have, as an individual, by finally accepting my differences, and the things that make me unique as a person (starting with firespinning).

If it werent for HoP, I'd have given up spinning a long time ago, and would be convinced that in spinning, as so many other things previously, I was a failure. I owe so much of my self esteem to HoP and the support network I've found here.

Posted:16th Feb 2006If it wasn't for HoP I wouldn't be posting this right nowIf it wasn't for HoP I wouldn't know what I was missing out on (meetastically speaking)If it wasn't for HoP UCOF would have never had my toffees posted to himIf it wasn't for HoP Mynci and LilMissSmartyPants wouldn't be an itemIf it wasn't for HoP I'd have no funIf it wasn't for HoP I wouldn't have spun fire in front of 10,000 people last novemberIf it wasn't for HoP I wouldn't have spun my fluffies today on the Castle GroundsIf it wasn't for HoP I'd have never found a fourth use for socks (the second is to use them to wipe up wee spillages next to my PC, the third is to make hand puppets)If it wasn't for HoP I'd have like three or four friends. I now have dozens - yay!

Always use "so's your face" and "only on Tuesdays" in as many conversations possible

If it wasn't for HOP when you go to festivals or conventions and you get chatting to someone and they say "i'm so and so from HOP" and you can go straight from stangers to knowing each other quite well

I've yet to experience this from HOP (except my chance meeting with frodo in a station) but its always the best thing about large online communities. I expect to meet a lot more HOP members this summer

Oh and back on topic...If it wasn't for HOP I wouldnt have had a fire spin in Manchester yet.

Posted:16th Feb 2006Amazing I started a "Why I love this board" for our local board yesterday.

HOPs given me so much. Mostly love and warmth and people that help me enjoy life. Its given me much quicker typing skills as it helped me discover MSN ( but my spelling is MUCH much worse now)Its driven me to better computer literacy to support my HOP habit.Its always a place to come when I cant sleep and need to chill for an hour before going back to bedIts a place full of people with different veiwpoints to expand me in a non threatening wayIts a place thats driven me demented just recently then helped me back on track. Thanks guys. I meet lovely new people as they travel It gave me CG..where I met so many wonderful people!!! so many things I have forgotten....

Is it the Truth? Is it Fair to all concerned? Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships? Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu